Nairobi County boss arrested in dramatic anti-graft sting operation

Nairobi, Kenya: Nairobi County Chief of Staff George Wainaina and his secretary were Wednesday evening arrested and grilled by Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission officials over corruption claims.

Wainaina spent his night in police cells on Wednesday after the EACC officials declined to grant him a cash bail.

The secretary identified as Roselyne Oluoch, was first picked from office after EACC detectives claimed she wanted to bribe Nairobi Senator Mike Sonko with Sh1 million for him “to be quiet over corruption issues”.

The officers also searched Wainaina’s office at City Hall briefly and carted away documents. They carried the cash they claimed was in the office and were to be used to bribe the politician.

By then, Wainaina had left the office using a different door. He was traced to the All Saints Cathedral Church by the detectives as he attended a funeral fundraising at about 7 pm.

.

Keep Reading

•  Government splashes Sh100m for tourists comfort zones in counties
•  All our constitutional reform initiatives have been on roller coaster
•  Human cases of bird flu 'an enormous concern': WHO
•  Ruto in Times 100 most influential people
•  EACC recovers Sh100 million land in NakuruPremium

The detectives bundled him to a waiting car and drove to the Integrity Building where he was grilled and locked up for the night.

Ms Oluoch told the officials she was acting on instructions of Wainaina and she was released on Sh50,000 cash bail.

Thursday, the EACC detectives accompanied Wainaina to his house for searches. They claimed they had search warrants to stage the raids in the house and office.

The officers went to his Karen home where they spent hours searching for what they termed as evidence to pitch a case against him.

The drama began after Sonko contacted EACC officials claiming Wainaina wanted to bribe him to be quiet over corruption issues in the city.

Sonko told The Standard that he decided to involve EACC as part of efforts to tame corruption cartels running the county.

“I still respect the Governor and support him. But there are people close to him who are involved in corruption hence affecting delivery of services and he must rid of them,” he said.

According to EACC officials, on Tuesday, the team accompanied a personal assistant to Sonko to Wainaina’s office where they picked up Sh500,000.

He promised to pick the balance on Wednesday. It was then that the operation was dramatically staged arresting the secretary, who was supposed to hand over the balance.

“The money is supposed to silence me but I won’t agree. We are fighting corruption,” said Sonko.

Wainaina is said to have told EACC detectives that it is the politician who had asked for Sh1 million from him to settle his debts.

We could not manage to get Wainaina’s comment because he was still under arrest and guard of EACC detectives.